City Councilor Maura Herlihy was elected Tuesday evening by fellow councilors to head the City of Sanford’s government as its mayor for the current year.

Herlihy was nominated for the interim position by Councilor Joseph Hanslip and was approved by a 4 to 3 vote of the seven-member council.

Also in the running for the position was Councilor Alan Walsh, who served as council chair for the past year. Walsh was nominated for interim mayor by Councilor Kenneth Burgess.

The council chose Hanslip as interim deputy mayor.

During a brief speech after her appointment, Herlihy said her goal as interim mayor for the next year is “to work with my fellow Councilors and the City Manager to position Sanford for the next economic boon to come.”

Herlihy cited the historic significance of the night as Sanford takes on its new identity as a city and spoke of its many attributes, including “two beautiful downtowns, including the still aptly named Village of Springvale, with historic gems such as the City Hall, the Goodall Mansion, the Sanford Mill Yard and the Sanford-Springvale Historical Museum.” She also cited the airport, strawberry fields, blueberry fields, apple orchards, Number One Pond at the center of the downtown and Sanford’s schools.

“But most of all what this community has is great people,” Herlihy said.

She urged residents to be proud of their community and pointed out that when citizens “preach about the positive aspects and show a willingness to stand up and fight for our community, we are doing the most important advertising and marketing ... and it’s all free.”

Presiding over her first meeting was not an easy task, however, as Alberta Sevigny, a resident and staunch champion of the Village of Springvale, challenged the council several times about the loss of identity of Springvale under the new charter, the authority of the council to appoint a mayor and repeatedly about who on the council would represent the citizens of Springvale.

Responding to Sevigny’s question about Springvale being represented at council meetings, newly elected Councilor Fred Smith pointed out that four of the seven councilors live in Springvale.

Herlihy will serve as mayor until the end of the year. A new mayor — to be elected by voters in November — will take office in January, 2014.